The present invention relates to a heating apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a sportsman's furnace which can be used with or mounted to pre-existing seats.
Sportsmen have always suffered under the elements while participating in various outdoor activities, including hunting and fishing. Many of these activities occur in the fall or winter months when the weather has turned cold. Various devices have been proposed to alleviate this problem. Seat warmers, portable heaters, and various hand and foot warmers have been proposed. The heating devices belong to one of two general styles, reflective heating devices and active heating devices.
A number of disadvantages are associated with these devices. Reflective heating devices do not provide an active source of heat. They rely on heat escaping from a person's body to warm the person. Additionally, these devices only warm the area of the person's body directly in contact with the reflective device. Thus, they are limited as to how quickly they will warm someone and the level of warmth which will be provided to the user. This style of heating device does not provide overall warming to the user because the air which surrounds the person is at ambient temperature. Reflective heating devices are inadequate since uncomfortableness from being cold cannot be remedied by warming only one part of a person's body if the rest of the person's body is cold.
The second main type of heating device, active heating devices, include space heaters and personal heating devices. Space heaters are designed to heat an entire enclosure, not just the individual user. Space heaters require that the person be situated inside an enclosure, otherwise heat is lost to the atmosphere. The result is that a large amount of heat is required from the heater to efficiently warm an individual. Additionally, a large amount of fuel must be carried with the heater to provide adequate warmth to the user, and the large amount of heat produced creates a hazard when operating the heater near combustible materials.
Personal heating devices have been developed which are designed to provide an active heating source and direct the heat so as to warm a person directly, as opposed to warming a spatial area. Some of these devices warm a sitting surface or a particular part of someone's body. Examples of this type of heater are chemical hand and foot warmers. Chemical heating devices operate by providing direct contact between a user's body and a heated surface. A bag or pouch contains chemicals which react to produce heat. The outside of the bag or pouch is placed next to the user's skin to transfer heat generated by the chemical reaction to the user. In these devices, the user's own body may also serve to block or obstruct the flow of heat to the rest of the body. Additionally, direct contact between a person's body and a heated surface requires that the surface be sufficiently insulated or that its temperature be kept sufficiently low so as to avoid discomfort or burning to the user. Chemical heaters typically generate heat for only a short amount of time, due to the limited amount of chemicals which can be contained in the pouch.
Other portable heating devices have been developed which have been designed to provide a seating surface positioned above a heat source and a heated air passageway, which allows the heated air to be directed so as to surround the user. Additional features, such as a coat or poncho have been used to facilitate the directing of the heated air. These portable devices have heating elements inserted into buckets with seats attached to the top of the buckets. Many of these devices provide both cooking and seating surfaces, and as a result, they are not particularly well-suited to the singular purpose of warming a person. Additionally, the portable seat type heater is often too cumbersome or unwieldy to use. The design of the heater is such that it necessarily must be placed on the floor. This limits the flexibility of the heater as to when and where it can be used. The awkwardness of the seat type heater is usually a result of the activity for which it is being used. The activity in which the user is participating may provide a seat that will not allow the efficient use of the portable seat. Many deer hunting stands, fishing boats, spectator sporting events, and other similar activities have seats built into the tree stand, boat, bleacher, etc. which does not permit practical or safe use of a portable heating seat.